jamie

I don't think that's enough to make Belatrix the true villain of the series. She did commit obscene acts of brutality but she was nothing more than a henchman. Without Voldemort she would have spent the whole series in azkaban and we wouldn't know anything about her.

Would you say Hitler was less evil than some of his commanders or soilders even? Some soilders in the nazi german army were completely psychotic and commited unspeakable acts against innocent jews (worse than anything hitler did with his own bare hands). Voldemort plays a similar role to some degree by orchestrating an attack on anyone who opposed him and tried to genocide muggle borns through his pawn deather eaters. Voldemort attempted murder on an innocent baby in order to ensure his survival. Voldemort was truly obsessed with power with extreme levels of narcissism and psychopathy, but with that (particular the narcissism) he was incredibly vulnerable. Belatrix in my view, was no more than a psychotic thug. However there wasn't enough depth to label her as the true villain.